litmus

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

litmus

/ˈlɪtməs/

Rhymes with -ɪtməs

Where it comes from

From Middle English litmose, lytmose, litemose, from Old Norse litmosi (“moss used for dyeing”), from lita (“to dye, stain”) + mosi (“moss”), the former from litr (“colour, dye, blee”), from Proto-Germanic *wlitiz, *wlituz (“appearance, blee”), from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to see”). Cognate with Old English wlite (“appearance, form, brightness, countenance”). More at moss.

noun litmuses

uncountable A dyestuff extracted from certain lichens, that changes color when exposed to pH levels greater than or less than certain critical levels.
Similar: lacmus
countable, uncountable A simple test of acidity in a liquid using litmus, usually in the form of litmus paper.
countable, uncountable A simple test of any attribute; a litmus test.

Similar: indicator

Thesaurus

noun

Similar: indicator

Translations

Every language

noun dyestuff from lichen

Español	tornasol
한국어	리트머스 riteumeoseu
日本語	リトマス ritomasu
中文	石蕊 shíruǐ
Português	tornassol
Français	tournesol
Deutsch	Lackmus
Italiano	tornasole
Ελληνικά	ηλιοτρόπιο iliotrópio
Русский	ла́кмус lákmus
Tiếng Việt	quỳ

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"litmus." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/litmus. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

litmus. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/litmus

Chicago

"litmus." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/litmus.

BibTeX

@misc{litmus_2026,
  title = {litmus},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/litmus},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}